TG Sitharam, the newly appointed of IIT-Guwahati (IIT-G), during a media interaction on Friday expressed his plans and desires to expand the reach of the institution to other parts of the northeast by opening extension centres.

Sitharam, who took charge on July 1, however, said that the expansion move requires permission from the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD).

"The IIT-G has already established itself as a brand and it is ranked very high among the universities of the world. We have the world-class infrastructure here to carry out advanced research and have state-of-the-art scientific and engineering facilities," Sitharam said.

"The institute can help state governments across the northeast in finding solutions to many problems. The extension centres is an idea we are planning so that we can expand the reach among the people of the region. It requires permission from the highest level. But we are going to work for it," he further added.

It may be mentioned here that Sitharam had led many institutions across the country in the past.

"I want to see the IIT-G among the top 100 institutions in the world in the next five years," he further said, identifying the lack of international students and faculties as one of the main drawbacks of the institution.

He assured that the problem will be addressed through Masters and PhD programmes to attract a larger number of students from the BIMSTEC and SAARC countries in the near future.

The new IIT-G director also said that there was a need to explore possibilities of joint PhD programmes with different IITs matching faculty interests and utilizing the national facilities available.

"IIT-G will soon have a centre for disaster preparedness as the northeast region falls under the Seismic Zone V," he said.

"I will also lay stress on teaching self-control and discipline to the students as well as the faculties by having regular yoga and meditation camps in the campus premises," added the new IIT-G director.